A malt liquor drink that faced considerable scrunity earlier this week will no longer be produced, according to its manufacturers.
"FCKDUP," a drink with an 11.9 per cent alcohol content sold in most convenience stores, will be discontinued, the Geloso Group announced Sunday.
"We will take the necessary steps with our internal teams, retailers, and the entire industry to get us out of this category," co-chair Aldo Geloso said in a statement. "I have ordered my employees to immediately cease production of the FCKDUP drink. Last Friday I also ordered the removal of all advertisements that concern it -- it's the right thing to do."
Geloso explained that the beverage was introduced as a local counterpart to an American malt liquor drink, Four Loko -- the first drink of its kind introduced in the Quebec market.
Four Loko's 11.9 per cent alcohol content meets the maximum allowed for a malt product -- the equivalent of four shots of vodka per can, experts say.
It's also double the alcohol content of many brands of beer.
Due to the drink's resounding success, the Geloso Group developed their own brand -- FCKDUP -- to compete.
"In hindsight, I think it was a mistake to enter this category to compete with Four Loko. In fact, the Four Loko category should not even exist," Geloso said.
Quebec Minister for Public Health Lucie Charlebois called on the federal government to look into how the drinks are marketed.
"I've got eight grandchildren and I'm very concerned about that because I know they're going to have access to these things one of these days," she said. "I'm very stressed about it."
On Friday, the manufacturer ordered Couche-Tard to immediately pull FCKDUP from its store shelves.
The decision came after 14-year-old Athena Gervais was found dead in a stream behind her school in the Fabreville district of Laval.
The teenager was reportedly drinking stolen malt liquor drinks on Monday over the lunch hour before she went missing.
Four Loko was recently removed from Quebec shelves because it contained ethyl alcohol, but is set to make its return sometime in the coming months.
With this in mind, the Geloso group is urging Quebec retailers to hold a round table discussion to stop Four Loko's re-release.
From its colourful packaging and its price point -- often sold two cans at a time for around seven dollars -- experts at Educ'alcool say teens may be inadvertently targeted by advertisers of these sugarly malt drinks.
"We need to find solutions to better prevent illegal consumption by minors," Geloso said. "Our company is ready to play a leading role in reflecting and seeking the implementation of new control mechanisms so that such a tragedy never recurs."
